Romanian National Committee for Future Earth established

The Romanian Academy Presidium approved on 4 June 2015 the foundation of the Romanian National Committee for the International Programme Future Earth: Research for Global Sustainable Development (Future Earth Romania). Future Earth Romania includes representatives from academia, government and practitioners from different interest group organizations and NGOs in Romania. The Committee is chaired by Professor Dan Balteanu and the two-person secretariat is located at the Institute of Geography at the Romanian Academy.

Future Earth Romania bases its establishment on the experience and organization of the IGBP National Committee (comprising also the national counterpart groups of IGBP, IHDP, WCRP, DIVERSITAS programs) and of the National Committee on Global Environmental Change in Romania whose gathered activities had been undertaken since 1992 to 2015, also under the aegis of the Romanian Academy.

The first meeting of the newly established Committee took place on June 30th 2015 at the venue of the Romanian Academy and gathered nine of its members to discuss on global change research priorities in Romania and establish Committee’s yearly roadmap. In the forthcoming months, the Committee’s focus will be on setting out a program for Future Earth Romania activities, and agreeing on the next (international) conference of Future Earth Romania, planned for February 2016 and addressing the global change problems and societal responses in the Lower Danube Basin.